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Shin Satellite Plc., Asia’s leading satellite operator, announced a sharp rise in sales and service revenues in the first quarter of 2006, attributed to increased sales of its conventional satellite business, rising sales of IPSTAR user terminals and improved performance of subsidiaries. Transponder and related sales rose 52.7% to Baht 1,153 m. Of this amount, Baht 645 m was attributed to the Thaicom conventional satellites, a rise of 11.8% YoY, while the IPSTAR business accounted for Baht 508 m, a rise of 185.4%. The Company sold 11,134 IPSTAR user terminals in Q1/2006, revealing the growing trend of IPSTAR sales. The Company experienced an expected net loss for the first quarter, largely due to Q1/2006 being the first full quarter of amortization costs (which are a non-cash item) and interest expenses associated with the IPSTAR project.
Service income from the Company’s telephone businesses in Laos and Cambodia rose 26.5% over the same period in the previous year, largely due the growth of prepaid subscribers in both countries. Both Lao Telecom and Cambodia Shinawatra experienced a rise in internet revenues of 42% year-on-year.
The share of net results from investment in CS LoxInfo Plc, of which the Company holds 40%, was Baht 25 million, increased from the same period last year, due to CSL’s fully-consolidated operating results from its directory business, following an increase in its ownership in TeleInfo Media Co., Ltd. (TMC), from 63.25% to 100% in Q3/2005.
The Company welcomed 20 new broadcasting channels to the satellite fleet in Q1/2006, bringing to over 200 the total number of channels that chose to use Thaicom as their satellite platform.
The Company’s new Thaicom 5 satellite was shipped to its launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, S. America and is being prepared for launch around the end of May 2006.
Shin Satellite:
Ms Piyanuch Sujpluem, International Public Relations, Shin Satellite Plc, 41/103 Rattanathibet Rd., Nonthaburi 11000, Thailand.
Tel. (66 2) 591-0736 to 49 Ext. 8495 Fax. (66 2) 591-0724, email:
[email protected]